•A bell sounds, signaling the humans aboard that its time for them to eat
• The humans, scattered about the ship, make their way to the mess hall
• another crew member, tizrah-Sine, takes count of the humans eating
• If a human doesn’t come to eat and socialize, ze might be sick
• This crew takes care of their human crew mates
• Sine doesn’t see human-Harlo
• Sine goes off to find Harlo
•Harlo is sitting in the lounge
•cat-Dubby is sitting on Harlo

S: Harlo, Why is it that you didn’t come to eat when the bell rang?
H: I can’t just get up, Dubs is sitting on me
S: Do you not have the strength to remove the cat from your lap?
H: I could, but it’s just not right
S: What do you mean?
H: Its not okay to disturb a cat thats lying on you
S: …
S: …
S: The cats peace is more important than food?
H: Its fine, Food can wait until Dubs gets up

•Dubby wanders off not long after this conversation
•Harlo joins the other humans
•The other humans agree with Harlo’s actions
•Sine reports this to zir supervisor
• A note is made in the ships guide to humans

- A human might not get up when sat upon by a cat. It is not viewed as acceptable to disturb the cat. Humans will still disturb cats in other situations. This situation is somehow special.

"really can’t believe that she’s being sued for reporting a sexual assault that happened" she's being sued because she is Taylor swift. She needs no sympathy because she clearly has the upper hand and was not physically harmed. He wanted money, rich folks get sued all the time. Kudos to her for not backing down. But why does Taylor need sympathy when until a six months ago she was partying?

“rich folks get sued all the time” lol if taylor was being sued for like accidentally hitting someone with her car or something i would understand you saying this but that’s not what happened???? here is what happened:

a man was given access to meet her through his workplace

during the meeting, he groped her ass

taylor reported this to his workplace - not the police, she didn’t intend to take legal action, she just reported it to the people who sent him to meet her - i’m assuming so they could take appropriate action against him and not put him in another position where he could do this to other women

the man then sued taylor for reporting it, which forced her into a legal process that she did not intend to be dragged into

taylor needs sympathy because she was violated, the way women are every single day, and is now being punished further for something that was never her fault. but this goes far beyond taylor and the dj himself, it speaks volumes about the world we live in where women are punished for standing up for themselves and are told to just accept it because they’re ‘not physically harmed’. the fact that this is going to trial spreads the message that being assaulted and being punished FOR assaulting someone are equally terrible and it’s really frustrating and upsetting to watch play out

All of these works shown on this masterlist, are completely written by me. Please DO NOT repost onto other sites or even tumblr without any type of confirmation from me. If this is done, I will be taking action and reporting whoever has done so.

GIRL GROUPS:

All of these works shown on this masterlist, are completely written by me. Please DO NOT repost onto other sites or even tumblr without any type of confirmation from me. If this is done, I will be taking action and reporting whoever has done so.

Okay, i’ve been recently notified of this one Instagram user stealing my art and other TF artist’s art and honestly, there is no credit given to any of us. I’m a lil pissed(( actually REALLY)) pissed about this and thank you to my friend for helping to make a good plan to deal with this. But I’m spreading this out. Go to this person page and see if any familiar art that belongs to their rightful owner. Art theft isn’t cool.

How can you pretend that it's morally neutral to allow nazis on your site at all? Even if they are not directly threatening somebody, their very presence is a threat. People don't have to actively be doing something illegal for it to reprehensible, and nazis are that by default.

Because if we take a stand on one, we’ll be considered to be actively endorsing the rest. Would we then have to ban incest, abuse, offensive kinks, problematic ships, images from older Disney works that contain racism, offensive literature, and so on? Or would we be implicitly endorsing all of those things because we hadn’t banned them?

We’ve addressed in previous answers that Nazis would likely not fare well on the site, as much of their rhetoric revolves around dogwhistles or direct threats of violence against minority groups. Any of those actions could be reported. Furthermore, if they attempted to use coded language to skirt by that, they would receive a greater punishment for attempting to circumvent our ToS.

We’re counting on our users to be diligent so that we can step in when needed.

Hanzo will deny it vociferously, but he has a nigh crippling sweet tooth. In public, he demurs every sugary, fattening thing offered to him. Unhealthy, he says. Undignified, he thinks. He’s kept the secret since childhood.

But when no one’s watching, well, that’s a bit of a different story. Packages of chocolates seem to run dry a little sooner than normal, ice cream develops a strange habit of disappearing around the edges of the carton, even treats hidden at the back of the cabinets or disguised in boxes of protein powder seem to still fall victim. The only person unaffected seems to be McCree, because he snacks exclusively on beef jerky and the salty-spicy-sweet rellerindos.

Little mouse, Reinhardt calls it darkly. A little sugar fiend mouse sneaking in and stealing something sacred. When Winston’s Reese’s cups go missing wholesale, he starts an investigation, pulling security footage. There aren’t any cameras in the mess, but he’s certain he can reconstruct the comings and going of their thief.

There’s nothing damning, which honestly shouldn’t be a surprise. McCree says as much, as even their greenhorns are learning to intuit the lines of sight of the cameras and move between them. Athena had even been registering her disapproval. But the cowboy has a plan.

The brightly colored American hard candies had fallen out of fashion with the rest of the world years ago because the dyes had been suspected of causing ill health. In America, however, they remained with their formulas unchanged. After all, you can always tell an American, but you can’t tell him much.

The dyes, with their vivid, unnatural brightness, had a side effect that would be handy for their current cause. They dyed the mouth and teeth of anyone who ate them for hours afterwards, even under the most rigorous oral hygiene routine. The plan went: hide a package in the back of the spice cabinet, then sit back and wait for someone with neon teeth. Easy as pie.

Even McCree wouldn’t have anticipated such quick results. He’s procrastinating on an after action report in his bunk when Hanzo comes in.

“Howdy, darlin’,“ McCree says absently.

“Good afternoon,” Hanzo says.

“How’d the sims go?”

Hanzo grunts. Middling, then. Either they need to change things up or get on the newjacks’ case about taking training seriously again. Probably both.

McCree looks down at him, intending to tease him about needing a nap when he was out half the night, when he catches sight of Hanzo’s mouth.

It’s blue.

McCree can’t help the laughter that bubbles up. Hanzo, of all people, is the mouse. Hanzo scowls up at him.

“What?” he snaps. McCree can’t catch his breath. Hanzo looks incensed at being laughed at, and that just makes it funnier.

“What?” he snaps again, poking McCree in the side.

“Mirror, babe,” McCree wheezes. Hanzo gets up and stalks over to the bathroom, and McCree watches his whole posture shift into panic when he sees himself. He immediately tries to scrub his mouth, but he mostly just manages to make his fingers blue too.

One of only a handful of the brand new StuG III to see service in the West, this dusty StuG III Ausf. A already shows the scars of battle on its frontal armour. From the size of the holes, possibly an anti-tank rifle. Location unknown, May/June 1940.

In May of 1940, during Operation ‘Fall Gelb’, a new concept made his debut on the battlefield: The Sturmartillerie (Assault Artillery).

The Germans called it the Sturmgeschütz (literally Assault Gun), or StuG for shorts. In its early versions it was designed specifically to help infantry deal with hard points such as bunkers, mg nests and fortified positions. Its low silhouette, 50 mm of frontal armour, and 75mm low velocity gun packing HE rounds made it a formidable opponent against any infantry position.

The first StuG to enter combat belonged to 16.Sturmbatterie, assigned to the ‘Großdeutschland’ Infanterie-Regiment. On the 10th of May, at the French village of Villers, 20 miles west from Luxembourg, the Regiment’s II.Batallion found the place occupied by French cavalry. The French stood their ground and a heated firefight followed. In the meantime, I.Batallion, with the Sturmbatterie attached, arrived at the scene. The call was heard for the first time: ‘Sturmbatterie to the front!’

‘The third platoon dashed forward; its leader, Lt. Franz standing erect in the turret of his command vehicle, followed closely by StuG Nr.5 and 6. The platoon found no resistance until arriving at the center of town where it received heavy mg fire. The platoon leader answered this fire with his MP (machine-pistol). Two rounds from each of the StuG silenced the machine guns.’ (Action report text adapted from Osprey’s New Vanguard 19).

In the goingtoburn AU, we have Obi-Wan being super protective of his padawan. Why? Maybe because someone (within the order or on a mission) hurt/try to hurt Obi-Wan when he was a small padawan and Qui-Gon didn't believe him/didn't do anything to help him). The council starts to investingate and the truth comes out. Mace/Plo Koon are super kind and help him/listen to him.

“Did someone hurt
you like that Master Obi-Wan?”

The question had
been posed so innocently from Anakin in light of what they had been
talking about, the others frown almost a pout as he stared up at his
suddenly frozen master.

The council ripped
themselves from the discussion about what to do about Palpatine and
his unnatural interest in a fourteen year old padawan (and the
potential that he may have done so to other padawans of the order and
Force wasn’t that a terrifying aspect) to focus on the young
Knight.

“Obi-Wan.”
Plo’s voice was terribly kind and Obi-Wan flinched slightly at the
tone, hands twitching as he barely resisted the urge to wrap his arms
around himself.

“…It doesn’t
matter. Its in the past.” He mumbled, swallowing a bit.

It sounded like
Obi-Wan was trying to convince himself more then the council and Mace
and Yoda exchanged understanding looks as Obi-Wan’s protective
streak may have come from experiencing the kind of abuse he feared
Palpatine wished to do against Anakin.

“Says so you do,
actions show otherwise, never reported such an instance were.” Yoda
stared at him a long moment before his ears suddenly fell. “Believed
you Qui-Gon did not?”

That got a full
body flinch out of Obi-Wan and Mace gave a low curse.

Oh he would happily
strangle that old gundark if he could. ‘How did such a capable
knight come from such a broken bond?’ He wondered before he got up,
moving to Obi-Wan, settling one hand on the mans shoulder and the
other cupping the redhead’s chin, tilting the others head up to
make sure he had the others eyes. “You don’t have to tell the
entire council. But would you consider at least speaking with one or
two of us? This… someone should have listened to you back then.”
There was an unsaid ‘Qui-Gon should have listened’ in those words
that made Obi-Wan swallow.

“A fellow order
member it was?” Yoda questioned.

“No… no a
dignitary we were protecting.” Obi-Wan shoulders slumped and he
sighed. “…If I promise to talk to a member of the council about
it, to know what to look for…can I go back to our quarters with my
padawan now? I just…I’d like to have a rest.” He settled on.

Mace looked back at
Yoda, who nodded.

“Yes Obi-Wan. Who
would you prefer to talk to?”

Settling his eyes
on the Kel Dor, Obi-Wan gave a meek, hopeful smile. “Master Koon?”

“Of course
Obi-Wan.” He murmured gently. “I will come by tomorrow after
breakfast while your padawan is in class, we can speak then.”

Obi-Wan bowed then
gently pulled Anakin with him out.

Mace returned to
his chair and collapsed into it, rubbing his scalp slowly. “…It
seems we’ve been failing a lot of Initiates and padawans.” He
offered dryly.

“If anyone failed
Kenobi, it was Jinn.” Shaak Ti offered sternly in return. “If I
had been on the council when they were starting out, I would have had
them both under observation, that was not a healthy bond for all that
the Force formed it naturally.”

There was some
discomforted shifting at her words then a lot of sighs.

“Out of respect
for Knight Obi-Wan, we should let this subject go for now and instead
focus on what we should do for our Initiates and Padawans. I will
speak to Obi-Wan tomorrow.” Plo murmured before sighing. “Lets
instead focus on what we can change and the future of our Order. our
younglings are after all our future.”

“And perhaps…”
Depa leaned forward, looking around the room. “We should consider
contacting Queen Amidala? She would be very interested in hearing
about about the former representative of Naboo and she may have more
information for us if we find any evidence to support Obi-Wan’s
claims.”

Plo rubbed his chin
lightly with his claws. “She’s in her last term as Queen is she
not. She wouldn’t have much to loose on giving us information if
so.” He mused.

“Then decided it
has been, speak to Obi-Wan, Plo shall. Speak to Queen Amidala Depa
shall.” Yoda looked around the room. “Focus on the creche, the
Initiates and the padawans the rest of us shall and examine the
systems we have used for so long.”

His ears dropped a
bit. “Fear what we find I now do. A day ago, safe I thought it was,
a working system with minor faults. Uncertain I now am… others
suffered for them perhaps?” He looked his full eight hundred in
that moment.

Kakashi doesn’t think he compares to Jiraiya-sama, not in the least. The man has a truly enviable grasp on subtle turn of phrase and the greatest eye for folds and drapes that hint in ways even more erotic than showing. Jiryaiya-sama is a master of his craft, let no one dare deny it.

(Else Kakashi will fight you. In the face.)

The thing is, though, that Jiraiya-sama is gleefully, viciously, irrevocably straight. (Or, if you’re truly a connoisseur of his works and a bit of a genius gifted in looking beneath-the-beneath, tragically, desperately, and obliviously closeted.) And while Kakashi is and always will be ever so fond of the way Machiko-chan tilts her head just so when Seichiro-sama nibbles just there, Kakashi just can’t help but think that the whole third chapter of Violence #5 would have been greatly improved if Satoshi-kun had just kicked Seichiro’s feet out from under him and promptly shoved a hand down his hakama.

It’s nothing more than an idea for a while, an odd little brain-doodle of a what-if that bubbles up in the long stretches of boredom nobody tells you make up 85% of ANBU ops. ‘Would there have been a war,’ he wonders on day 5 of what ends up being an 18 day stakeout, if neither feudal lords felt the young prince had wronged their busty daughters? ‘Would Satoshi still have died tragically stepping in front of a poisoned needle meant for his dear childhood friend?’ he ponders once he’s lost and/or killed his tail and settled in for the 18 hour run back to Konoha. 'Could everyone have the happily ever after that never exists in real life?’ he contemplates over a bowl of high-calorie mush meant to prod his chakra coils into filling up faster.

“What about Machiko!” cries Ebisu, a berk of a chuunin made just tolerable by being a fellow enthusiast. “Where does her happy ending come in?” Kakashi thinks long and hard on that one for about 8 seconds.

“Clearly loyal, supple handmaiden Hana would sweetly ease her woes.”

The two men contemplate that for a blissful second, before Kakashi remembers that the chuunin currently possesses all the paperwork required to spring him from the prison Konoha calls a hospital.

It becomes kind of a thing a month later, when Kakashi is back in his least favorite place, damaged enough that there’s no escaping through the window. He’s trapped for the foreseeable future and granted no distractions but the pen and forms required for an after action report.

He doesn’t do the report. He’s got a reputation to live down to.

A week after that, paperwork-chuunin Inuzuka Hige runs him to ground in training ground 15, waving his not-report like a declaration of war. “If you leave this here I will gut you like a boar,” she roars and in fear for his balls, Kakashi turns out ten thousand words of slow, sweet, 'incredibly glad we both somehow survived’ hardcore yaoi fix-it in less than a day.

It becomes absolutely a thing after that. There are message boards in admin building basements where first his, then others’, hand-scribbled fiction is pinned up, and tiny post-its of praise are pinned up under it. It seems like the village had been waiting poised on an exhale for someone, anyone, to start the tide. Because then there is a flood, spanning volumes and series and worlds, scratched on anything from expensive calligraphy paper to the margins of a BBQ menu and distributed on an old clunker of a photocopier that in some accounting somewhere has been listed as both non-functional and disposed.

It becomes so much more than him.

Someone starts illustrating, and someone else starts coloring. And yet someone else starts writing fictional derivations of Kakashi’s own derivation and this, he thinks, is what it must feel like to be happy.

(One writer’s time-travelling, world-building epic is so goddamn astounding he finds himself first in line next to the photocopier exactly on time every Tuesday morning like clockwork to get his print.)

His nose isn’t always buried in Icha Icha any more, though you’d have to know him better than most do to even notice behind the lurid orange covers he tacks on everything. He’s still unflinchingly loyal to the classic originals but now his horizons have been blown wide open. There’s a new wave of pornography storming across the hidden continent and Kakashi has to stay at the forefront of it all to remain a big name in fan-writing. Viva la fucking revolution!

(Oh my Kentarou-kun, what could you and Takeshi-kun possibly do with those soft, smooth tentacles you’ve sprouted? We should all find out.)

A lot of you are probably aware that there have been Facebook ads floating around featuring my artwork (Overwatch mostly) on Teechip.

These products are using stolen material without my permission.

After spending numerous months reporting to Teechip I have given up. The seller or sellers simply make a new account and set up a new store immediately after take down.

Furthermore, it takes Teechip around 3 days to take action after a report in the first place! They also don’t appear to have image recognition software to enforce these repeated offenses/uploads either. At this point I’m just tired, tired of dealing with this bullshit.

All I can ask is, please don’t buy the products from Teechip and help spread the word via comments that the artwork is stolen. Thanks for everyone’s concern!

A Way to the Heart

17th September, 1685

“Rise and shine, Princess.” Jeongguk wastes no time in
pulling the covers off you as you groggily wake up, hands rubbing at your
sleepy eyes. “It’s the day of your coronation.”

You can see his lips curving upwards into a smile at your
distasteful look, as you get off the bed, going to the bathroom to freshen up.
Your handmaidens have already had your clothes prepared the night before and
stand ready to help you get dressed. After finishing the basics, you expect to find
Jeongguk gone for your privacy to dress, but instead find him lounging
comfortably on a chair; eliciting a glare from you.

“Are you planning on staying here or letting me get
dressed?” You spit out the words in annoyance, raising your eyebrow at him and
in response to your question, you see him smile cheekily.

“Well, you are my
wife, aren’t you?” He chides, crossing one of his legs over the knee of the
other, looking cockily at you, “Surely you wouldn’t have a problem with getting
dressed in front of me, now would you?”

While there are a lot of things out in the Tumblr-verse that we can handle, there is one thing we will not sit back and watch happen. And that is when someone steals anything from another author.

Even if it’s something ‘minor’ such as a character or story line or changing the fandom. Stealing is stealing is stealing, and we will not allow this to happen. Within the Network, and our own personal blogs.

This particular person, who we will not name, has done this on several occasions and yet, they persist. If it continues, more severe actions than blocking and reporting the fics stolen, will be taken.

How the Batboys would react to their s/o dying the same way they did- Jason Todd

You frowned at the sight of Gotham’s most hated and feared clown, the Joker. He and his deranged girlfriend, Harley, have been wreaking havoc ever since they broke out of Arkham Asylum. AGAIN. You were tired of this bullshit, and Jason was, too. The “no killing” rule was starting to get on your nerves, even if you weren’t apart of the great Bat Family. A mercenary like yourself shouldn’t even be close to them, but ever since you met Jason when you were training with the All Caste. You joined him when he formed The Outlaws, and stood by his side when the team fought against the Untitled. After that, you and Jason returned to Gotham and found out that the clown prince broke out once again. You were on strict orders to observe and report their actions from daddy Bats, but he never said you couldn’t use a sniper to watch him. Currently, he was joyriding in a stolen vehicle and causing mayhem on the streets. You couldn’t see Harley in the car with him, but you knew that she would soon appear.

“(S/H/N) to Red Hood, the Joker is in my sights, but Harley hasn’t shown up yet,” you spoke through the comm.

“Copy that. I’m about a few minutes from your position, I’ll catch up with you soon,” Jason said.

“See you soon.”

You started running across the rooftops and following the speeding car. When you were falling behind, you grappled from building after building, and shot a tracking device on the trunk. You smirked and linked the tracking device to Jason’s gear, knowing that he would like to know where the maniac is. The tracking device led you to a shutdown amusement park, which you thought was a waste of space. Why is there so much wasted space in Gotham? You knew that tons of money went to crime lords and corrupt politicians and businessmen, so that was one of the many reasons Gotham was wasting away. You landed on top of an attraction that had the perfect cover for keeping an eye on the Joker.

“Oh Harley, I’m home!”

You frowned when Harley didn’t appear to welcome her lover home. Footsteps behind you made you realize that this was a trap. You turned around and had a mallet hit you right on the side of your head. You collapsed on the ground and tried to pull yourself up, but the world was spinning too much.

“Nighty night, sweetie!”

———————

You groaned when you regained consciousness, the pounding in your head and nausea informing you that you have a concussion. The ringing in your ears did not help you focus, but you were able to take in the scene around you. You were on the floor inside one of the attractions at the amusement park, but you didn’t feel any rope or handcuffs on your wrists or ankles. You tried to move your arm, even to just twitch your finger, but your whole body was paralyzed. You steadied your breathing, knowing that keeping calm is the best thing you could do right now. You could see all of your weapons on a table at the far corner of the room, but you knew that you still had your tracking device embedded in your arm. It would take a lot to brake that device, and you knew that Jason was on his way. After a few minutes, laughter could be heard from behind you. The laughter grew until you heard a door squeaking behind you, hinting that you are in some deep shit right now.

“Look, Harley, the little hero is awake!!” Joker cackled.

When he was in your line of vision, he was swinging a crowbar and whistling a tune you weren’t familiar with. You felt your heart beat faster and faster as he inched closer to you with the crowbar in hand. You willed yourself to move, but you only managed to twitch your index finger slightly. Harley grabbed your limp arms and cuffed your hands to chains hanging off of the ceiling. You were on your knees with your hands suspended in the air when the first swing from the crowbar connected with your stomach. His cackles overpowered your gasps and heavy breathing.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve done this, but I think I’m getting the hang of this!” he said and swung the crowbar at you again, hitting your ribs over and over again.

The beatings continued for what seemed like hours, but you knew it was only a few minutes.

“Oh well, looks like we’re cutting our playtime short,” he chuckled and walked over to the door. “I definitely had a bomb, but I guess I had a little bit more fun than you. You are awfully quiet, but I guess it’s just your brooding character.”

The door was slammed shut, leaving you alone in the room beaten and broken. You were finally able to move your fingers and pick the locks on the cuffs. You fell face first onto the ground, but you were able to slowly crawl to the door despite your broken ribs and injuries. You were able to reach the handle of the door, but it was locked. A sharp pain erupted in your arm and you retracted it away from the handle, knowing that Jason would soon be here to save you. You heard a beeping noise and froze. Once you gained the courage, you slowly looked over to your left and saw a bomb timed to go off in a minute. You placed your hand on the door behind you and pulled yourself up, wincing when the pain was too much. You went to the table that had your weapons as quickly as you could and returned to the door. The timer had thirty-eight seconds left when you shot the handle off and rammed into the door. You lost your balance and fell onto the floor once again, but you refused to give up. You pulled yourself up again and used the wall for balance to escape as fast as you could. When you were finally able to see the exit, you were relieved to know that this was almost over. You clutched onto your gun and continued to the exit until a gunshot echoed throughout the hall. You collapsed and screamed, the pain erupting from your abdomen flooded your senses.

“I just knew you were going to escape!” Joker stated and aimed the gun to your head, “I am so glad I stuck around to see your last moments.”

You gave Joker a bloody smile before shooting him right in between his eyes, “If I’m going, I’m taking you with me you psychotic piece of shit.”

You tossed your gun to the side and leaned your head up against the wall. You knew that your time was up, and all you had on your mind was Jason. A few tears slid down your cheeks as you thought about the future the two of you wanted but will never get.

“I’m sorry, Jason.”

Jason was only a few feet away from the entrance when the building exploded and went up in flames. He was knocked down by the force of the explosion and screamed your name. Once he was back on his feet, he ran into the building and found your bleeding body right near the Joker’s dead body, which he left to burn in the flames. He cradled your broken body and immediately checked for a pulse, but found nothing. He ripped his helmet off and tossed it to the side. His blue eyes looked at your injuries and knew that there was no way to revive you. He wiped the tears off of your face, only to have his own replace yours. He knew that he shouldn’t have involved you in this. He knew that he should have left you with Roy when Bruce called him. He looked back at the burning attraction, feeling relieved that Joker was finally dead. His heart breaking overpowered that feeling, making it useless to find the pros of your death. He knew that you would tell him to move on, but he couldn’t. He gathered your body in his arms and contacted Roy, telling him of the new mission that required his expertise. Jason knew the consequences of using the Lazarus Pit, but you were stronger than he ever was.

I might as well put all of my cards on the table. I am tired of people claiming that the D.C. Comics Extended Universe (DCEU) finally got its franchise right with the recent release of “WONDER WOMAN”. As far as I am concerned, the DCEU had been getting it right ever since the release of its 2013 film, “MAN OF STEEL”.

I enjoyed “WONDER WOMAN” very much. In fact, it is my favorite movie of 2017 … so far. But I do not consider it the best film within the DCEU franchise. But that is not my point. My point … has to do with the reasons behind this declaration regarding “WONDER WOMAN” and why I find it so troubling.

I cannot help but wonder if today’s critics and moviegoers have balls of rubber. When did it become so damn important to them that all comic book hero movies are “fun” or loaded with humor? There is NO LAW that all comic book movies have to be “fun”. The Captain America movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) franchise were not all fun … especially 2014’s “CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER” (which is why I am such a major fan of the movie). Neither were the Dark Knight Trilogy films directed by Christopher Nolan. And the DCEU film, “SUICIDE SQUAD” was practically loaded with humor. Yet, that film was trashed as well, and criticized for similar reasons as “MAN OF STEEL” and its follow-up, “BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE” (another major favorite of mine). So, why criticize the DCEU movies for lacking a sense of humor?

Another criticism that has been lobbied against the DCEU films was the franchise’s ambiguous portrayals of its main characters. Especially Clark Kent aka Superman. I am beginning to suspect that deep down, this negative reaction regarding the DCEU franchise solely began with the portrayal of Clark Kent aka Superman in “MAN OF STEEL”. Many people seem incapable of dealing with Superman being portrayed in some ambiguous manner. They could not deal with his insecurities regarding his place in the world - insecurities that originated with his status as an immigrant from another world … and his super powers. These traits - especially his powers - led Clark/Superman to be initially regarded as an outsider and with distrust. “MAN OF STEEL” was the first time any movie had explored this aspect of Superman’s existence. And to be honest, it did not reflect well upon most of the Humans featured in the movie. When it seemed that Superman had finally risen above his insecurities in the next movie, “BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE”, events in that film proved that he had not - not completely. And the reason he had not risen above his insecurities stemmed from the public’s fickle reaction to him. In the 2016 film, some people worshipped Superman as a god. And this made him feel very uncomfortable. Others regarded him as a convenient savior to be at humanity’s beck and call. Not only did many of the public felt this way, but so did the majority of political and military leaders. And others, like Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne aka Batman, regarded him as a current or future menace. Had this ambiguous portrayal of Humanity or its ambiguous reaction to Superman’s presence annoyed a lot of people?

I do know that many critics and moviegoers had protested his killing of the Kryptonian leader, General Zod, claiming that Superman does not kill. I found this declaration either ignorant or hypocritical. Why? Because Superman had killed Zod in a previous D.C. Comics film, 1981’s “SUPERMAN II”. No one had protested. And many comic book movie fans today insist that scene never happened. It seem many fans and critics will not allow Superman to be an individual with virtues and flaws. Instead, they always seem to demand that he be some damn, one-dimensional symbol used to wallow in their illusions and fantasies of a convenient savior in an unsafe world.

This attitude has been extended to both Bruce Wayne aka Batman and Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman … but in different ways. Many critics and moviegoers not only criticized Superman for killing Zod in “MAN OF STEEL”, they also criticized the Batman character for his killing of numerous thugs and his attempt to kill Superman in “BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE”. Considering that Batman has always been such a noir character among the comic book heroes, I found this criticism very hard to swallow. Have there been other occasions in which the Dark Knight had deliberately killed someone? Hmmm … he killed the Joker in 1989’s “BATMAN”. He arranged the Penguin’s death in 1992’s “BATMAN RETURNS”. Batman caused Harvey “Two Face” Dent to fall to his death in the 1995 movie, “BATMAN FOREVER”. And in 2005’s “BATMAN BEGINS”, Batman refused to save the life of his mentor-turned-nemesis, Herni Ducard aka Ra’s al Ghul from one of Gotham’s runaway monorail trains. Mind you, some countries do not consider deliberate killing by inaction a felony. Some countries do. And in my eyes, it is not only murder, but hypocrisy at its worst.

However … hardly anyone seemed to remember these previous incidents of Batman causing the death of another. Instead, they focused their ire upon Batman’s actions in the 2016 movie. Was it because Batman was not portrayed as a clear-cut hero throughout most of the film? Or that he seemed to be portrayed as a homicidal xenophobe, bent upon Superman’s destruction? Did this negative portrayal put these fans and critics off? Were they unwilling to peek into the uglier aspects of Batman’s persona … something that the comic books have never been afraid to explore? But the portrayal did not stick and eventually, Batman saw the light … again - something that a lot of moviegoers and critics had failed to notice Or perhaps they were too taking umbrage at how director-writer Zack Snyder was willing to take Batman so close to the abyss. In many ways, these same moviegoers and critics remind me of the general public featured in “BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE”. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why so many were negative toward the film. Zack Synder had portrayed them in a way they probably found unflattering.

As for “WONDER WOMAN”, I get the feeling that many critics and film goers are complimenting the movie for THE WRONG REASONS. Unless I am mistaken, the movie I understand that it is the first truly successful comic book heroine movie and I am not only glad, but relieved. However, the movie seemed to possess a more ambiguous and complex tale than many are willing to admit. And these same fans and critics seemed to think that it is the only DCEU movie that is truly a “fun” movie. Strange … I never came to that conclusion. Looking back on the film, I noticed that the movie possessed pockets of innocence and humor - especially in the first half. But once the movie shifted to the war zone in Belgium, it gradually became more grim and angst-filled. Diana’s innocence and naivety, which seemed humorous in the film’s first half, proved to be an impediment to her character growth in the second half. Yet, I have only come across a few articles willing to admit this.

In fact, many were so busy emphasizing Diana’s compassion, warmth, frankness, strength and warrior skills so much that they seemed to turn a blind eye to her personality flaws. Many had ignored that Diana’s bubble-like upbringing had made her too naive for her own good. Although one might be inclined to compliment her frankness, many had failed to notice that this trait proved to be an impediment to Steve Trevor’s attempts to report his actions in Eastern Europe to his superiors. Or that there is a time to be frank and a time to keep one’s mouth shut. Many critics and filmgoers have been so busy focusing on Diana’s virtues or trying to paint her as a more superior costumed hero/heroine than Superman and Batman that it seems as if they have deliberately turned a blind eye to her flaws. Or pretend that she had overcome her flaws by the end of World War I. Many have also complimented Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince for coming to the conclusion that humanity is not all good or all bad. The ironic thing is that Wonder Woman came to her balanced opinion of humanity after her experiences in “BATMAN V. SUPERMAN”, not in this movie. She came to this conclusion after a conversation with Batman aka Bruce Wayne in the 2016 movie. After her World War I experiences, Diana had spent nearly a century maintaining an emotional distance from humanity and maintaining a cynical view (which I share, by the way). And many filmgoers and critics have either failed to notice this … or refuse to acknowledge this aspect of her character.

Now, I am a big fan of “WONDER WOMAN”. So far, it is my favorite movie of the Summer 2017 season. But the movie does have its flaws. I have a deep suspicion that a great deal of the movie’s acclaim originated from gender politics.“WONDER WOMAN” is the first truly successful costumed hero/heroine movie in which the protagonist is a woman. As a woman, I am pleased by this turn of events. But I am also disturbed that so many are using this aspect of the film to judge it superior to the other films within the DCEU franchise. Nor do I regard “WONDER WOMAN” to be morally straightforward as many critics and moviegoers insist that it is. In this movie, the character of Princess Diana aka Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman is forced to shed her naivety and truly grow up. And in a rather painful manner. If the movie truly was that morally absolute to me, I would not have found it that interesting in the first place. Nor do I regard the public’s misconception of the movie as morally absolute as a sign of its superiority over the previous three DCEU films. I have reached a point in my life in which fictional works with a black-and-white morality are not as interesting as it used to be when I was a lot younger.

Due to certain arguments, I do not regard “WONDER WOMAN” as the “savior” of the DCEU franchise. Unlike many moviegoers and critics, I did not find the character of Wonder Woman to be ideally moral. In fact, there were times when I found her idealism and moral absolutism rather annoying. And I did not find the movie as morally absolute as many claim it was. Despite being thrilled that the film is the first comic book hero movie with a woman protagonist to be very successful, I do not regard that as an argument to view it superior to the other DCEU films.

For me, the idea that “WONDER WOMAN” is the D.C. Extended Universe franchise’s “savior” is a load of horseshit to me. As far as I am concerned, the DCEU never required any “saving”. At least not yet.